Kings River photo contributed.

Record water flow this year has propelled the Kings River region closer to groundwater sustainability.

After multiple years of drought, the Kings River ended the 2023 water year with a record breaking 4.5 million acre-feet of runoff.

Investment for the Kings Subbasin has recharged 500,000 acre-feet of water into the aquifer during the 2023 Kings River water year.

Flood releases from Pine Flat coursed water through Kings River channels and water purveyor headgates for 162 days straight

This record breaking water year allowed agencies within the Kings Subbasin, encompassing portions of Fresno, Tulare, and Kings counties, to make greater strides in meeting groundwater sustainability goals.

The seven Kings Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) and their members have been preparing for a water year like this since January 2020, when they submitted their first plans to the state to outline the roadmap to sustainability by 2040 sunder the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA), according to a news release.

Since submitting the plans more than three years ago, the GSAs and their members have invested over 1,000 acres of prime groundwater recharge land to construct 25 dedicated recharge basis yielding over 24,500 acre-feet of new recharge capacity annually.

The basins are either already constructed, under construction or to be completed over the course of several years.

The agencies filled their newly constructed basins with flood waters for the first time during this historic 2023 water year.